At 03:16 am 5/6/01, Bruce ONeel wrote:
|> That's a nice writeup.

Thanks, though it seems the part I needed the tech writer for was the first 
part, not the example at the end as I thought.

|>  Still, as Doug pointed out I'm just the librarian :-)
|> I'm pretty much happy to impliment what ever policy can be agreed upon,
|> though I'll note that the current setup is only weeks old :-)

I understand that Bruce, though you are The Librarian.

I am also sorry it took me so long to notice the folder you had created. My 
real concern has nothing to do with policy or how we name our images. My 
concern is primarily with the association of '3.0' and 'unstable' or '3.0' 
and 'alpha'.

At 04:36 pm 5/5/01, Doug Way wrote:

> > The technique of using Integers for the Major Version number (1.x, 2.x,
> > 3.x)  with an even decimal for the Production Release number (3.0, 3.2, 3.4
> > ... 4.0, 4.2 ...) and an odd decimal for the following development (aka
> > TestPilot) Release number (3.1, 3.3 ...) ,that gets created at the very
> > same instant is not a hard concept to describe.
>
>Maybe not, but it is somewhat (unnecessarily) more complicated than the 
>current scheme, which is simply that any version with an "alpha" after it 
>is a development/testpilot release.  And I think referring to a 
>development version as "alpha" is probably more universally recognized 
>than an even/odd numbering scheme.

I had not intended to propose any change to our current scheme which uses 
both conventions.

I was mostly trying to point out that there is not  an "alpha" 
or  "unstable test pilot" image for Squeak Release3.0 and that the concept 
of considering Squeak3.1alpha.image as part of Squeak Release 3.0 is not 
only a new concept, it can be both confusing and misleading.

> > The primary concern, seems to be that a person with no prior knowledge of
> > Squeak Release numbers, will discover the Ftp site and incorrectly assume
> > that since release 3.1 is greater than release 3.0, that is the release
> > they should get.
>
>The current scheme does an excellent job of addressing this, IMHO, since 
>you have to dig a bit to find a 3.1alpha directory, but it's easy to find 
>the current 3.0 production release.
>
>I guess your concern is that it's currently a bit too difficult for 
>someone to find the development (alpha) release?

Not at all. I disagree that 3.1a is a kind of 3.0 release. It does not 
belong in that directory at all, even to hide it. There has never been an 
alpha release of 3.0 and there never will be. I mostly disagreed with that 
folder name and either '3.1' or 'alpha' being inside the 3.0/ folder. I did 
make an assumption as to the only reason I could think of why the folder 
'/3.1/' or '3/1_alpha/' had not been created and why it had been hidden, to 
which I proposed creating the 3.2 folder now, and apparently completely 
confused things

>I think it should be somewhat hidden, although I suppose it could be made 
>slightly less hidden by renaming the unstable-testPilot directory to 
>unstable-3.1alpha or something like that.  (Although I wouldn't mind 
>leaving it the way it is, either.)

While I prefer just using the simple release number '/3.1/ as opposed to 
'/3.1a/' , '/3.1_alpha/' , or '/3.x_alpha/' for the root level folder name 
as I explained before, I would have no trouble using of those. I personally 
do not perceive any need to hide the source of an Open Source project 
though Bruce obviously liked the idea too. Perhaps a root folder named 
'/Magic/' , '/TestPilot/' or just '/HiddenStuff/' if not '/3.x_alpha/' .

My primary concern is that the Symbols #unstable , #testPilot, #3.1 and 
#alpha have nothing at all to do with the Squeak3.0 Release and we need to 
move them out of the /3.0/ folder. The reason I consider this both 
important and time critical is due to how fast hypertext references can 
propagate.

Cheers,
Lantz

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   Lantz Rowland <lantz at aabysgallery.com>  PgpKey: 0x67E5DFA5
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